The Lazy Way to Beat Points Devaluations
This is the April 1, 2026 edition of the LazyPoints Weekly newsletter. It goes out by email every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. Pacific–unless I oversleep–and is archived here on the blog. Want it straight to your inbox each week? Sign up here.
It’s a rough time for travel right now—rising prices, higher fees, and frequent devaluations.
But lazy points strategies? They’ve actually been holding up pretty well.
Fixed Value
Whatever happens with prices, there’s almost always an option to redeem points for a solid, predictable value. That might be redeeming for travel through a travel portal (1.25¢ per point via Bilt, 1¢ per point for most others) or erasing travel purchases at 1¢ per point (Capital One and Chase).
You might not win big—but you won’t get burned, either.
Lazy Sweet Spots
In the past few weeks, I’ve written about some “lazy” sweet spots: low-effort, high-value ways to redeem Alaska, American, Delta, and United points. Think flights to Japan for 75k Atmos points, 50k AAdvantage miles to Europe, Delta flash sales… United Polaris if you’re flush with points and into that sort of thing. Valuable, repeatable, not too hard to find.
Most of those options seem to be holding up for now.
Award Search Tools
The landscape was complicated enough before all the recent changes. Keeping track of fuel surcharges, partner quirks, and award availability to find those needle-in-a-haystack deals is… not very lazy.
That’s where search tools come in. Even if you don’t want to master award programs and hunt for deals, there are a ton of services out there that can do the work for you (for a fee). A few that I have tried and recommend: Thrifty Traveler, Roame, Going, and Seats.aero.
(Buying in cash with flexible plans? Be sure to maximize Google Flights Explore.)
Lazy Take 🦥
Don’t let all the bad news get you down. Even when things get complicated and expensive, there are always ways to get value from your points without outsize effort.
This week on the blog 📝
I offered a lazy perspective on each of the major hotel loyalty programs that have credit card transfer partnerships. Personally, I’m not a fan of using credit card points on hotels, but there are times that it can be a useful option.
Quick Points of the Week ⚡
More value 📈
Wells Fargo adds Wyndham as 1:2(!) transfer partner. Wells Fargo is an also-ran in the points arms race, and while Wyndham points aren’t too exciting, offering two per Wells Fargo Rewards point could make this a solid situational option. (Doctor of Credit)
Devaluations 📉
JetBlue adds surcharges on United flights. The hefty fees could make JetBlue points impractical for United redemptions. (OMAAT)
Virgin also hikes surcharges. The airline already imposed often-painful fees, so true deals are going to be even fewer and farther between. (Thrifty Traveler)
Giveaways 🎟️
Win 100,000 AAdvantage miles. American Airlines is celebrating its centennial by awarding 100,000 miles to 100 winners. 💯 (American Airlines)
New products 🆕
Bunk beds in economy? Move over Skycouch, Air New Zealand will now let you rent a nap pod. (Fast Company)
Recommended 👍
Travel to Africa on points. I talk a lot about Japan here, but there are other travel destinations in the world. Frequent Miler has some ideas about using points to visit the Mother Continent.
Rumors 👀
Big shakeups in the airline industry? ThePointsGuy reports that “merger mania” is swirling, while Spirit Airlines could face imminent liquidation and JetBlue’s founder thinks the airline is heading toward bankruptcy.
Sign up bonus of the week 🎯
Links marked with an * are affiliate or referral links, meaning we may earn if you apply via our link.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited is a solid no-fee cash-back card: it earns 3% cash back on dining and at drugstores, 5% back on travel booked via Chase, and 1.5% back on all other purchases. It also has excellent benefits for a no-fee card, including purchase protection, extended warranty protection, and rental car insurance.
The current sign-up offer is $250 cash back after spending just $500 in the first three months. This is 25% better than the $200 offer that is typical for this and many other cash-back cards. But what’s really special is that you can also get more cash back if you apply via Rakuten: $75 if you’re a new customer and $25 if you’re an existing Chase customer. (Reminder: with Rakuten you can currently earn $50 in rewards after signing up* and spending $50 in the first 90 days.) While the rewards pale next to a big travel card bonus, up to $325 cash back for a solid no-fee card is still a very good offer. 🔥
Also, it’s worth mentioning that although this is a “cash back” card, it earns Ultimate Rewards points, and if you have a card like a Chase Sapphire, you can get even more value from the rewards by transferring them to transfer partners like United, Hyatt, or Air Canada. If you have a Chase-based strategy this can be a solid addition to your wallet, raising your earning floor by 50% from 1x with the Sapphire cards to 1.5x with the Freedom Unlimited.
Other great sign-up bonuses this week
50,000 points + $300 Bilt Cash + Bilt Gold status on the Bilt Palladium (our take: 🔥🔥🔥🔥)
100k points + 25k companion discount on the Atmos Summit (our take: 🔥🔥🔥🔥)
200k points on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant (our take: 🔥🔥)
70k points on the JetBlue Plus (our take: 🔥)
70-100k miles on United Credit Cards (our take: 🔥)
Up to 100/175k on the Amex Gold/Platinum (our take)
125k points on the Chase Sapphire Reserve* (our take)
75k points on the Chase Sapphire Preferred* (our take)
Lazy Pick ✅ (Affiliate)
Cable conflict? The older, bigger USB-A charging ports are still everywhere on airplanes and in hotels, but you don’t need to keep separate cables for your travels—just get a few affordable adapters like these. They’re a lifesaver. (As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.)
Enjoy the weekend! 🦥
Let’s hope fuel prices come down soon—and the surcharges with them.